I've run into this event a few times. There's an engi ship that automatically surrenders without a fight, saying something like "transfer of goods acceptable?" There are two choices, 1) to accept the surrendered goods, 2) to assure them that you mean no harm.

Every time this happens, I can't bring myself to take their stuff, so I choose the second option and they take off without another word.

Is there anything more to this event, or is the optimal choice always to accept their stuff?

I don't have any statistics, but I have had them been surprised by my graciousness to let them leave, and they paid me anyway. I'm guessing it's 50/50 that they'll pay either zero or +50% over their original offer.
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Hand-E-FoodSep 24 '12 at 20:36

Ok. I figured there had to be at least a chance of good things happening, but was surprised when they never happened to me. I was actually originally hoping for a silent diplomatic affect to engi events for the rest of the game/sector.
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tugsSep 24 '12 at 22:09

Can you cite a source for this information? It seems weird to me that they'd give you a choice where there was a clear, and 100% true, better choice. That's not really much of a choice.
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aslumSep 25 '12 at 18:42

2

@aslum: The game data; the event is named ENGI_SURRENDER.
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user2640Sep 25 '12 at 19:42